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Ethiopian calendar
The Ethiopian calendar ' (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር ''ye'Ītyōṗṗyā zemen āḳoṭaṭer) or '''Ethiopic calendar is the principal calendar used in and is also the liturgical year of the where it is known as the Ge'ez calendar. It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar, which is based on the even older Egyptian calendar, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on or in the Julian calendar. Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days (usually called a thirteenth month). Furthermore, its months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but they have different names, that are in Ge'ez. The sixth epagomenal day is added every four years without exception on August 29 in the Julian calendar, six months before the Julian leap day. Thus the first day of the Ethiopian year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between and 2099 (inclusive), is usually (Gregorian), but falls on (Gregorian), in years before the Gregorian leap year. Current year The current year according to the Ethiopian calendar is -7}}. This year which began/will begin on September 11, . New Year's Day Enkutatash is the word for the Ethiopian new year in the official language of Ethiopia: , while it is called Ri'se Awde Amet (Head Anniversary) in Ge'ez in Eritrea. It occurs on September 11 in the Gregorian calendar, except for leap years when it occurs on September 12. The Ethiopian calendar year 1998 Amätä Məhrät ("Year of Mercy") began on , . However, the Ethiopian years 1996 and 1992 AM began on 2003 and 1999, respectively. The new years begin on September 11 or 12 as described above from Gregorian to 2099, but differently in other Gregorian centuries, because every fourth Ethiopian year is a leap year without exception. Eras To indicate the year, Ethiopians and followers of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church today use the Incarnation Era, which dates from the Annunciation or Incarnation of on , (Julian), as calculated by in c. 400 AD; thus its first civil year began seven months earlier on , (Julian). Meanwhile, Europeans eventually adopted the calculations made by in 525 AD instead, which placed the Annunciation exactly eight years earlier than had Annianus. This causes the Ethiopian year number to be eight years less than the Gregorian year number from January 1 until September 10 or 11, then seven years less for the remainder of the Gregorian year. In the past, a number of other eras for numbering years were also widely used in Ethiopia: Era of Martyrs The most important era – once widely used by the es, and still used by the - was the Era of Martyrs, also known as the Era, whose first year began on , . Respectively to the western and Julian New Year's Days about three months later, the difference between the Era of Martyrs and the Anni Domini is 285 (= 15x19) years. This is because in AD , decided to add 15 Metonic cycles to the existing 13 Metonic cycles of the Diocletian Era (15x19 + 13x19 = 532) to obtain an entire 532-year medieval Easter cycle, whose first cycle ended with the year Era of Martyrs 247 (= 13x19) equal to year DXXXI. It is also because 532 is the product of the Metonic cycle of 19 years and the Solar cycle of 28 years. Anno Mundi according to Panodoros Around 400 AD, an Alexandrine monk called Panodoros fixed the Alexandrian Era (Anno Mundi = in the year of the world), the date of creation, on 29 August 5493 BC. After the 6th century AD, the era was used by Egyptian and Ethiopian chronologists. The twelfth 532-year-cycle of this era began on 29 August 360 AD, and so 4x19 years after the Era of Martyrs. Anno Mundi according to Anianos Bishop Anianos preferred the Annunciation style as New Year's Day, the 25 March (see above). Thus he shifted the Panodoros era by about six months, to begin on 25 March 5492 BC. Leap year cycle The four year leap-year cycle is associated with the four Evangelists: the first year after an Ethiopian leap year is named in honour of , followed by the -year and then the -year. The year with the sixth epagomenal day is traditionally designated as the -year. There are no exceptions to the four year leap-year cycle, unlike the Gregorian calendar. Months Note that these dates are valid only from March 1900 to February 2100. Sources * "The Ethiopian Calendar", Appendix IV, C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, The Prester John of the Indies (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961). * mlbnm,n,lChronologie", Leipzig, 3 vol., 1906-1914 External links *Warning: In the following two links, dates in the "Ethiopian calendar" have been converted into a pseudo-Julian calendar by replacing the true Amharic Ethiopian month names by close, but not coincident, Julian names. For example, Mäskäräm is called "September" even though Mäskäräm actually begins on August 29/30 Julian (and September 11th Gregorian, the most common calendar). When they state that the Ethopian year begins on "September 1", they mean it begins on Mäskäräm 1. Similarly, when they state that Christmas occurs on "December 29" in the Ethiopian calendar, they mean it occurs on Tahsas 29. ** Ethiopian Calendar - Christian, Islamic, Jewish & Public Holidays ** Ethiopian Religious Festivals * The Ethiopic Calendar by Aberra Molla * Ethiopian Calendar Converter * Ethiopian Perpetual Calendar Software Category:Liturgical calendars Category:Ethnic and national calendars Category:30-day month calendars